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As for the Kensen- the offering of food. No Shinto Ceremony takes place until Shio (salt), Omizu (water), Okome (washed rice) and Omiki/Sake (rice wine) are offered to Okami. These sorts of things may be of interest to people involved deeply with Aikido as Kaiso (O’Sensei) was the very serious Shinto practitioner and so by having some contextual understanding of Shinto we may gain insight regarding his thinking/ process.

The word Matsuri (festival or ceremony) originally referred to Osokuni no Matsurigoto, meaning country where food for deity is produced. During Kensen when the product of the sea and the land and human effort are offered to Okamisma rice is always the first element.
Rice is the perfect food (according to Macrobiotic thinking it is the most yang element of the yin world and so is the perfectly balanced food for Human beings in a temperate climate).Rice itself is considered to have the soul ..there is an old word inadama meaning rice soul. Grains other than rice are referred to as zakkoku (miscellaneous grains).

Tennoheika (the Emperor) personally tends a rice field----the core rituals of Koushitsu Shinto (Shinto of the Emperor) relate to rice harvest.
Niinamisai = the harvest and offering to Okamisama of the first rice. Shin-mai (new rice) is eagerly awaited even today in places like Seattle..although traditional Shinto people will not enjoy to eat shinmai until after Niinamisai when it has been offered to Okamisama.
Onamisai or Daijosai= a pivotal rice ritual of the Sokui-no-rei ,or ascension rituals of the new Emperor (of special interest to practitioners of Chinkon Gyoho is the Mitamashizume ritual that last from midnight till dawn of the night prior to Daijosai).
Kannamisai= is the ritual of offering the first of the rice harvest to Amaterasu Omikami at Ise Jingu (Shrine).
The first Niinamisai was when Jinmu Tenno (Emperor from 660 B.C. to 585 B.C.) offered New Rice to Takamimusubi-no-O-Kami (one of the 3 original deities to appear during the emergence of the Universe)
During the TENSON KORIN when Ninigi-no-Mikoto was guided to earth by Sarutahiko-no-O-Kami he brought the secret of rice cultivation. (That is why he is also known as Amatsu Hiko Hiko Ho-no-O-Kami/a name meaning rice stalks with abundant grain).At the time of his coming to Ashihara-no-Nakatsukuni/ Earth he was given the original grain of Takamahara/High plain of Heaven by Amaterasu Omikami.The Gokoku/5 grains were the product of Ukemochi-no-O-Kami and represent the 5 elements: